In this video, Neil Tappin looks at the 9 things tour players do... that you don't!! These are the small things, the tips and tricks that add up to help them shoot great scores. Perhaps adding some of these things to your game could make a difference to your scoring!
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to this video in which
00:08we are looking at the nine things the pros are doing that maybe, just maybe, you're not.
00:14These are all things the pros are doing either in practice, on the golf course or away from
00:18the golf course that are really helping them to perform week in and week out. Those little
00:22tips and tricks that could make a big difference to your game if you start doing them too.
00:28If you're new to the Golf Monthly channel, please do hit the subscribe button to make
00:31sure you don't miss any of our videos, hit the like button if you like what you're watching
00:34and also, tell us, have you seen the pros doing anything that you've tried that's really
00:38worked for you and your game? We would be interested to hear any ideas that you've got. But let's
00:43head out now onto the golf course here at the London Club and find out what the nine things
00:47the pros are doing that perhaps you're not.
00:51Okay, so the first one on my list relates to warming up. Now, I appreciate this isn't
00:59the most exciting topic in the world and I'm sure that everyone out there knows it's important
01:03to warm up before they play golf. But how many of you out there warm up before you go to the
01:07range or you go to the practice ground? I expect the answer to that is not many. You often,
01:13me included, get to the driving range, do a few simple stretches like this, a little bit of that,
01:18and then start hitting shots and that can cause you problems. It can cause you problems because
01:22the first few shots that you hit, you might fat and that sets the tone for the practice session.
01:27What you'll find with the pros is that they will do their stretching before they get to the practice
01:31ground. They'll do it in the changing room or they'll do it in the physio truck so that by the
01:35time they get to the driving range or the practice ground, they are ready to hit balls. They are ready
01:40to sort of strike the ball cleanly and build up pace from their most lofted club up through the bag.
01:45So take a small leaf out of the book of the pros, do a little bit of stretching before you even arrive
01:50on the practice ground and that can make a big difference to your session as a whole. It can
01:55make sure that right from the first ball to the last you're warm, you're ready to go and your body
01:59is working exactly how you want it to.
02:15So the next one on my list relates to pitching and something the pros don't tend to do. The pros
02:20will very, very rarely hit a flat out pitch with their most lofted club in the bag. The reason for
02:26that is that if you're hitting a making a full swing at a short shot with your most lofted club,
02:31you're going to be creating a lot of speed down by the ball. Speed means backspin and backspin means
02:36more flight and for the pros that is something that takes control away from them. Remember this
02:42part of the game is all about precision and in order to be as precise as possible you need to be
02:47able to control the trajectory. Often when the pros talk about hitting a full pitch with their most lofted
02:52club in the bag they're only ever really hitting the ball at sort of 80 or 90 percent they're never
02:56really going at it flat out 100 percent. By taking just a little bit of pace off the swing they're
03:02able to create more control over the ball flight and ultimately that helps them hit the ball closer
03:08from inside 100 yards.
03:15Okay so one thing the pros do brilliantly well is whenever they're sort of building a strategy for a
03:20hole they will have a very clear idea in their minds of where they absolutely cannot miss. Now to give
03:27you an idea of exactly that sort of thought process this is the 11th hole here on the heritage course
03:32at the London club and the number one place you cannot hit it on this hole is in the trouble over
03:39the black back. There is all sorts of very long grass flags right at the back of this green as well today
03:46and so your chance of getting up and down if you've gone over the back are virtually zero here and
03:51despite the fact that it looks as if all the big trouble is at the front you're far better off being
03:56slightly short than you are being slightly long and that has a big impact on ultimately the strategy
04:02that you build the club that you take and how you play the hole. So this hole is 175 yards and for me
04:08that's probably a soft six iron but it's slightly downhill it's slightly downwind if i absolutely
04:14flush it and i hit a six iron i might just hit this over the back in which case i'm doing very
04:19well to make a double bogey so i'm going to put the six iron down i'm going to choose the seven iron
04:24instead with the specific aim that i shouldn't i can hit this as hard as i want i won't go past that flag
04:38a little bit right but it's on the green it's short of the flag shouldn't definitely shouldn't
04:47be making more than a bogey at absolute worst. One thing the pros are often very meticulous about
04:57in practice is when it comes to their putting are they starting the ball on exactly the right line
05:04it's very easy when you hit putt after putt after putt in practice especially to start slightly
05:09pulling or slightly pushing your putts without really even realizing suddenly that can affect
05:14everything in your stroke and the way in which you stand over the ball and suddenly you can lose your
05:19your confidence very quickly on the greens. Now there's a whole host of training aids out there
05:24that the pros use that help them just perfect that start line make sure they're starting if it's a
05:29right lip putt they are starting the ball on exactly the right line every single time but you don't
05:35have to necessarily use a training aid a simple gate drill like this where the gate is just slightly
05:41wider than the um than the ball uh hit a whole host of putts just train yourself on getting the ball
05:47through that little gate the more often you can do that the better your start lines will be and if
05:51your start lines are good then you should should hold a few more putts
06:01okay so the next one on my list relates to understanding your game now the pros will
06:05have a very very clear idea about where their strengths and weaknesses in their game lies they'll
06:10have a lot of detail as well they'll know off the tee whether they're more likely to miss right or left
06:15they'll have a an idea about all the tendencies in all the different areas of the game so that gives
06:21them a framework for what to work on in practice but more importantly when they're out on the golf
06:25course it helps them to build a strategy so if they know they're more likely to miss right off the
06:29tee than they are to miss left and there's bunkers down the right hand side as there are on this hole
06:33they'll know that perhaps a strategy either a different golf club to lay up short of them
06:38or playing away from the trouble might just get them uh sort of a better score so the question is how
06:43well do you really understand your game and even if you do understand your game are you putting the
06:48lessons you've learned into play in practice and out on the golf course take those bits of advice
06:54with you it could make a big difference to your game
07:02okay so number four on my list relates to the mental game and there's no two ways about it the
07:07pros are definitely taking the mental side of the game very very seriously indeed they understand
07:12just how the the mind when it works for you can have a huge impact on the quality of the performances
07:18you put in on the golf course and i suspect many of you watching this will also understand just the
07:22impact the mind can have on the way in which you play the question is are you doing those little bits
07:28of work that really train your mind to think in the best way possible and the answer that is well
07:34possibly not there are lots of different things you can do from the way in which you practice
07:38performance practice putting yourself under pressure in practice so the way in which you
07:42sort of process every round of golf that you play one thing that i've done over the last few years
07:47it's really worked well for me is that after every round of golf i play i get a notepad and i write
07:52down the sort of five best shots that i've hit i should write them down in quite a bit of detail
07:56just to sort of reflect on them just to get a log on some of the best shots that i've hit i'll then
08:01go over and i'll read them over again every now and again just to remind myself of some of the shots
08:05i've hit and the thought process that i had going into those shots it has actually really made a
08:10big difference to my game and so the advice here is perhaps just taking that little bit of time to
08:16think about and work on the mental side of your golf game could make a big difference in the long run
08:28now the next one on my list relates to building a very very clear vision in your mind
08:32for exactly the shot that you want to play and you need to do it on every single shot you hit
08:37on the golf course i'm sure that you probably already know that you need to do that you need
08:41to have a vision for the start point and the ball flight you're looking to achieve but do you do it
08:45on every single shot you play the pros do the pros will have a very clear idea in their minds for
08:51instance when they're chipping they'll know the sort of flight they're looking for they'll know their
08:55landing spot and they'll know what to expect in terms of how much run they're getting so you need to
09:00build that picture on every single shot you hit now this is a par five here at the london club
09:05and this is a specific scenario which is really really important because it's quite open but
09:10unless you're focused it can be very easy to hit away with shot so in this scenario i'm picking my
09:16start point which is on the the just on the right hand edge of the green bush on the left hand side just
09:21beyond the fairway and i'm looking to just hit a small fade off that bush and i'll be focusing very
09:26hard on trying to do that i'll have a picture in my mind of exactly the sort of ball flight i'm
09:31expecting it's something that jack nicholas spoke about years and years ago something that he did he
09:35ran a sort of a almost like a movie vision in his mind for the shot he was looking to produce
09:40and it has a big impact because it acts as a very positive sort of mental rehearsal before you hit
09:45the shot right let's give it a go a little bit necky but it goes to show i had a very clear idea of what
09:57i was trying to do it wasn't a great swing it wasn't a great shot but the ball's on the fairway
10:02the next one on my list relates to practice and practicing in particular with a very very clear
10:16purpose in mind how many times do you go to the range or do you go to the practice ground and just
10:20start hitting balls and before you know it you've hit 40 or 50 balls and you've not really had a very
10:25clear idea in mind of what you're looking to achieve the pros are very very good about being crystal clear
10:32about what they're looking to achieve now it might be on the driving range that you're looking to
10:36improve something technically in your golf swing in which case obviously advice from a pga pro and then
10:42going away and working with some of the drills they've given you or exercises they've given you
10:46can make a big difference other than that don't forget performance practice putting yourself under
10:51pressure in practice to help you out on the golf course can really help you and then also don't
10:56forget the short game so this is a drill that i often use i'd love to practice my short game a bit more
11:01often than i do sadly i don't and i suspect it's the same for many of you out there having a drill
11:07like this this is a i put a towel down roughly where i would expect the ball to land it's a landing
11:12zone drill so it gets me thinking about where i want to pull the the ball to pitch and giving me
11:16an idea of how far it will run with each club in my bag that can help me out on the golf course become
11:21very focused on the flight the landing spot and the role all good things when you're out on the golf course so
11:27have a very clear idea in your mind about what you're trying to achieve in practice because that
11:32can make a big difference to you when you're competing for real one thing that all pros do is
11:43they clean their clubs after every single shot now obviously they have a caddie to help them with that
11:47so usually the caddies job but you'll find that not only with their wedges but every club in the bag
11:52really the face of every club will be clean before they hit the ball doesn't matter whether you're talking
11:56about your irons your wedges or your putter anything that gets trapped between the face and the ball
12:01will affect the outcome ultimately that's what you need to remember now the face of my wedge here you
12:06might think looks pretty clean and might be good to go but actually i can tell you right now a tour
12:10player would want to give this a good scrub would want to get some sort of brush or t-peg out to get
12:15between each of the grooves you can see how much dirt is coming up between each of the grooves and actually
12:21this is going to affect the amount of spin you get this is going to affect your control when you're
12:24chipping and the ball flight and spin that you get when you're hitting pitch shots into the green so
12:29just take a little bit of time clean the face of your club before you hit it will give you a more
12:34reliable more consistent outcome so there you have it that was our list of the nine things the pros are
12:39doing that perhaps maybe you're not i hope you found that list interesting and useful and if you do
12:44have any comments anything that you've seen the pros doing that you think could help amateurs as well
12:49please do let us know leave comments below tell us what you've seen we'll get back to as many of you as we
12:54can hopefully we can share some of this information around also please do like the video if you've
12:58liked what you've seen and hit the subscribe button to make sure that you don't miss any of our videos
13:03but for now from the london club it's goodbye